Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay: A Novel (Neapolitan Novels, 3) (Neapolitan Quartet, 3) Paperback – 11 Sept. 2014

Those of you that have followed the fortunes of close friends (and sometimes rivals) Lila and Elena from their childhood - in a rough district of a post-war Naples - will not be disappointed with this impressive third novel. As before, it is told from Elena's point of view with all the honesty, ferocity, emotional fluency and intensity we've come to expect from this extraordinary author.The two women - who are in a psychological sense two halves of the same complex being - are now approaching their thirties. Their fortunes fluctuate. In the first part, while Elena is setting up house in Florence and being feted as a prize-winning novelist, Lila is working in a sausage factory. She is wearing herself out, making herself ill, living with Enzo in a platonic relationship and bringing up her son. She gets caught up in problematic industrial relations at the factory - reflecting wider social concerns - which draws in people from Elena's circle, the Sarratore family, and she is almost broken by the violence of it. Elena arrives from her comfortable, middle-class life in Florence to take care of her and to reconnect.In the latter half of the novel the focus is more on Elena's problematic marriage and progress as a writer. Despite wishing to be a writer first, wife and mother second, with two small two daughters she gets bogged down in domesticity. Her husband puts his academic work first and doesn't fully connect with her; theirs is a more abrasive than a loving marriage, though they have their moments; but Elena becomes stifled by it and she finds writing her second novel difficult. Events for her move to an explosive finale when a figure, a passion, from the past re-enters her life and ignites it. She has to face that most difficult of all dilemmas for a woman - who to put first, one's children or the lover one can't live without?At the heart of this forensic and compelling novel is the complex, multi-layered friendship between the two women. Their differences are increasingly apparent. Lila is rougher, courser but more streetwise, clever and charismatic than Elena, whose intellectual and middleclass aspirations are put to the test. Many of the characters we met in the previous novels - overlapping circles of Neapolitan society - make background or cameo appearances, giving a sense of how the friends and neighbours of the women's childhood expanded into circles of commerce, local power, influence and corruption.Apparently, little is known about the author. One wonders how this is possible in an age where nothing is private any more.It's a brilliant and enthralling novel.(See also the Guardian's Review section for an article on Ferranti, 2 Nov 2014).

The first two books in this series are outstanding and had me totally hooked. This one is also beautifully written and a compelling read, but in comparison to the first two books, I found that it drags somewhat. However, I would still recommend it and will certainly be reading the fourth and final Neapolitan novel.

This third book in Elena Ferrante’s Napolitan quarter continues with gripping storytelling and vibrant accounts of the vicissitudes of upwardly mobile life, the violent political fascist/communist strife in post war Italy, themes of women’s rights and identity, friendship, family and love, but above all, of personal being and identity. The wide cast of characters from Lina to Elena, Nino, Bruno, Pietro, Pasquale, Enzo, Michele, Adele, are each critically portrayed, their situations, their nature, behaviour, reactions standing as familiar stereotypes of who we are. Some forces are powerful, particularly those of expectations, responsibilities and above all, of love. Ferrante shows that the holistic power we call love can overwhelm all other considerations, can be both undeniable and irresistible. Instead of recognising and accommodating this power, we surround it with restrictions and disapproval. The story is at times spun out to make a quartet, with the reader trapped on the author’s treadmill, but the storytelling and human comment make it worthwhile.

A enlightening and revealing consideration of the problems of life and family relationships.

Just brilliant narrative The continued story of Lenu and Lila’s lives will not disappoint you I’m certain. I have finished all 4 books one after the other and have both these women in my mind wondering where they go from here !

After book three it would be difficult not to look forward to book four. Elena bathes in the success of her published novel, but struggles to write more after the birth of her two daughters, and with her husband's dependence on her central domestic role. Elena loves Pietro, but the differences between them become increasingly apparent. In the meanwhile, she comes to Lila's aid at the request of old neighbourhood friends Enzo and Pasquale. Lila collapses with exhaustion after her struggles with harrasment and unremitting hard work at the sausage factory. Elena looks after Lila's son Gennaro for a while, and she also intervenes on her behalf by using her new contacts within her husband's more socially influential family. Political struggle between Fascist and Communist elements becomes increasingly prominent in this story, as does the role of women during these changing times of the late 60's and 70's.When Elena revisits the old neighbourhood, there are some changes and new riches, but the stifling influence continues to feel like an entrapment.Lila's fortunes change, and Elena becomes increasingly consumed by passion, both have a sense of risk and danger about them. The tension between hostility and tenderness between the friends is quite unique to this series of novels.

Maravilhoso!

não é um thriller de ação, mas a história toca pelo realismo e profundidade emotiva

Her writing is one of the best I’ve come across. She has a gift to enthrall the reader with amazing character building and uncomplicated languaje, while exposing social issues of misoginy in the Italy of the 60’s & 70’s.

イタリアナポリで生きる女性達の人生をしばし共有。強く共感させる筆致で、読書の幸せを感じてます。

Natürlich war ich sehr gespannt wie es nach dem zweiten Buch mit den beiden Protagonistinnen weitergeht.Ich wurde nicht enttäuscht .Die beiden Freundinnen sind in den 70er Jahren angekommen .Elena, die das Glück hatte , dass ihre Begabung nicht nur bewundert , sondern auch gefördert wurde , hat einen Universitätsabschluss und inzwischen Bekanntheit erlangt durch ein Buch, das sie veröffentlicht hat.Sie hat einen Kommilitonen geheiratet, dessen Vater Professor ist.Sie hat in eine progressive, politische linksstehende Familie eingeheiratet, die nicht gegensätzlicher zu ihrer Herkunftsfamilie sein könnte, was die Autorin auch thematisiertInzwischen hat Elena zwei Kinder, mit denen sie zum Teil ihre liebe Not hat und zu denen sie auch ein zwiegespaltenes Verhältnis hat, wie ich gefunden habeLila hingegen ist in Neapel geblieben. Sie wohnt bei Enzo, mit dem sie ein nur ein rein platonisches Verhältnis hat.Sie zieht ihren Sohn Gennaro alleine groß.Lila arbeitet in einer Fabrik, deren Arbeitsbedingungen sehr verbesserungswürdig sind.Lila gelingt es allerdings, sich von der Arbeit in der Fabrik zu befreien und sie arbeitet in der damals noch brandneuen Computerbranche, in der sie dank ihrer Intelligenz einen bescheidenen Erfolg hatDie Geschichte der Protagonistinnen wird im Kontext mit der Zeit der siebziger Jahre weitererzählt , dem politischen Umbruch , den Bedingungen für die Arbeiter,aber auch dem Terror.Dieser hat auch Menschen aus dem Bekanntenkreis von Lila und Elena in seinen Bann gezogen hat.Auch wenn es mir manchmal nicht ganz gelungen ist das Handeln der beiden Heldinnen nachzuvollziehen, oder mich gar damit zu identifizieren (warum ist Lila nicht von Stefano längst geschieden, warum ist sie völlig ohne Geld von ihm gegangen, warum ist Elena nicht zufriedener ) so habe ich diese Fortsetzung dennoch mit Begeisterung gelesen.Ich freue mich auf den vierten Teil!